And Baby Makes Three...

Ultrasound picture of my new grandson!

This past weekend I attended a baby shower for my youngest daughter at First Baptist Church Midwest City, where we attend church.  She is 34 weeks pregnant.  She had an absolutely wonderful shower!  There were many people in attendance and she received a ton of gifts.  I am so excited for her that it went so well.  I can hardly believe that in just about six short weeks I will have another grandbaby to hold and dote over.  She is having a boy so this will make two grandsons.  My oldest daughter is also pregnant and is due the end of July (gender yet to be determined).  God has been so wonderful to bless our family with three new babies in such a short time!

What Now???

Since I started working on my Master’s Degree two years ago, I have had many people ask me how I plan on using my degree.  What am I going to do with my life?  I always wish that I had some grand response for them, but the truth of the matter is that I don’t plan on changing my life at all.  I am quite sure that I will continue working where I work now until I am ready for retirement.  Everyone always assumes that I started down this path to better my career in some way.  In fact, I did it simply for the self-satisfaction and feeling of fulfillment that completing a higher education degree gives a person.  I don’t have any grandiose visions of doing or becoming something great.  I have the same plans and goals for my life that I did prior to starting down this path.   Haven’t you ever wanted to do something just to see how it would feel to accomplish it, to overcome the obstacles to achieve something greater?  Well, that’s just what I did.  I decided that having a Master’s Degree would be a good achievement so I set out to do it.   I used to feel bad when people would ask me what I plan to do after I graduate and I had to tell them “same thing I’m doing now”.  But it doesn’t bother me any longer.  I’ve come to the realization that achieving something just for the sake of achieving it is as good a reason as any.  So, to those of you out there who have been sitting on the sidelines wanting to do something bigger but couldn’t find a good enough reason for doing it, you now have your reason; just because you want to!  The biggest decision I have to make concerning what to do with my diploma is how to frame it!!! 

Employee Safety First?

When the Oklahoma City area was hit with a blizzard last week, my place of employment closed for two days, as did most businesses in the metro.  On Thursday, we were expected to report back for duty.  It seems only logical to me that if a business expects its employees to report for duty that the management of that business would do all they could to ensure their employees would be safe.  This was not the case!  Management had a whole day after the snow stopped falling to bring out the proper equipment to clear the parking lot.  Instead, they chose to do nothing.  I am not talking about a small business operation here.  I’m talking about one of the largest employers in the area.  Employees had to trudge across a parking lot covered with snow well over our feet to get to the building.  Not to mention all the trouble people had just trying to park!  Cars were getting stuck right and left and people were pushing and pulling each other out.  It was a huge mess!!!  Now we have another snow storm staring us in the face in a couple of days.  Do you think our management might have learned any lessons from the last storm and take better care of employees this go round???  We shall see. 

In Loving Memory

Today I am reflecting on the memories of people who have come and gone throughout my life that have helped shape me into the person I am now.  There are a lot of people who I would like to thank and so this is in memory of…

In memory of my grandmother, Daisy, who died when I was only two years old.  I’m thankful that she was a wonderful Christian woman who helped mold my mother into such a fabulous Christian mentor.

In memory of my grandfather, Freeman.  He was a very Godly man who rightly divided the Word of God from the pulpit.  He was a great influence on my life and also helped mold my mother into the Christian woman she is today.

In memory of my grandmother, Lela, who always showed me love.  She was a Godly woman and helped influence my father in his Christian faith.

In memory of my grandfather, John Alfred.  He always let me tag along with him when he fed his quail, moved eggs into the incubator, or whatever else he was doing.

In memory of my father, who made sure that I was raised in a home where the Bible was taught and who took me to church every week.  He always showed me love and compassion.  He did his best to make me laugh when I was sick and would rather cry.  He worked three jobs when I was very young so my mother could stay at home and be the kind of wife and mother she needed to be.  He taught me right from wrong and was swift to discipline when it was needed, but always out of love.  He gave me many wonderful memories to cherish and carry with me for the rest of my life.

In memory of my third grade teacher, Mrs. Dennis, who made me stick with it and learn to write in cursive when I wanted to just give up and vow to print for the rest of my life.

In memory of all of my Sunday School teachers who taught me stories from God’s Word week and week, year and year.  Especially Mrs. Mayes!

In memory of my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Williams, who showed me that she cared about me as a person.

In memory of Dorothy, who always opened her home not only to me but to any and all of the kids from our church who wanted to hang out over there.  Thanks, Dorothy, for all of the great meals that you cooked for us at Falls Creek!!

There is no possible way that I could ever acknowledge all of the people who have gone home to be with Christ who have made a difference in my life, but these are a few of the people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude that I can never repay.